This British Lord claimed that pornography shrinks your brain

A Conservative Peer told the House of Lords, during a debate this afternoon, that looking at pornography can shrink the brain.

Speaking in his capacity as “a doctor,” Lord McColl cited a study by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Psychiatric University Hospital Charité at St Hedwig Hospital to claim that “constant pornography consumption can reduce the size of parts of the brain.”

It appears that Lord McColl may have not understood the study correctly, as one of its authors told the Telegraph last year that “it’s not clear, for example, whether watching porn leads to brain changes or whether people born with certain brain types watch more porn.”

This means that it’s just as likely for people with a smaller striatum, the part of the brain that allegedly shrinks, to be just as attracted to pornography as it is for pornography to shape their brains.

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Lord McColl was speaking in a debate led by the Bishop of Chester on the impact of pornography on society.

The Bishop has long held concerns about pornography and has previously told the House of Lords that he dislikes all activities that “separate human sexual attraction from its proper basis in responsible human relationships.” The debate is being held because the Bishop’s chosen subject was drawn in a ballot.

The Bishop opened the debate by expressing his distaste for “ugly, squalid, dirty sex.”

However, not all members of the House of Lords agree with the Bishop of Chester’s and Lord McColl’s views on pornography.

Baroness Murphy, who told the House she was approaching the topic from the point of view of an academic psychiatrist, said the debate made her feel “mischievous.”

She urged her fellow Peers to not “leap to conclusions” about scientific research and asked for forgiveness before reminding then that “pornography is there to aid masturbation.”